Lurid Dreaming
by englandkirklandftw
Summary: You mustn't let the wrong ones touch you.
1. Dreaming

Dreams of Death

I yawned and stretched as Ianto and Gwen left the Hub together. It was vaguely annoying to watch them both leave, but he really did have a lot of work to do.

Rubbing the back of my head, I tapped a few keys at the main computer and sighed at the sight of the depressingly inactive rift.

I never would have admitted it, but for once I'd have liked it if there was something I could go kill by myself. Like a zen activity. Admittedly not the most orthodox method, but still_

My thoughts abruptly broke off as the whole building shook and the lights spat the dummy.

'Yes!' I shouted over the deep rumbling beneath my feet, and then looked around guiltily.

I jumped over to the main computer and grinned rakishly as I saw the rift activity spike up dramatically.

My eyes widened and the smile slipped off my face as I realized the rift energy was right next to me.

Actually, it was more like it was right with me_

'Oh, damn...'

I held up one of my hands and examined the red tendrils snaking round my forearm.

Since when was this better than going home with Ianto?

As the tendrils slithered around my legs, I tripped over to my desk and grabbed my coat.

The next thing I knew I was sprawled out face down on a road.

Getting to my feet, I looked around.

I appeared to have landed on a road between two thick rows of trees.

I looked up. The sky was completely black. There were no stars, no moon, nothing. What the hell?

'Must be cloudy,' I muttered, throwing on my coat and turning around.

I stopped dead, then sprinted forward and dropped to my knees.

There was a man lying in a pool of blood in the middle of road. He was face down and completely unmoving.

I bit my lip and reached for the man's wrist, though I knew I wouldn't find anything.

This scene would never have unnerved me usually, but the combination of the odd, grim, thickly growing trees, the sky and also the fact that the dead man's skin was green put me very slightly on edge.

Automatically I pressed at my earcom, but there was no signal.

'Okay, so I'm not on Earth, there's a dead guy with green skin surrounded by traffic cones but there's not anyone actually here apart from me, this place is creepy and weird, and I'm talking to myself. Great.'

I reached out to turn the man over, but a voice from behind me stopped me.

'I wouldn't touch him.'

I leapt to my feet and spun around in one motion, my hand flying to the gun holster at my hip.

Unexpectedly, there stood a girl.

She looked around fifteen or sixteen. She was wearing a pink top with a checkered pattern at the chest, a purple skirt, long white socks and red shoes. Her long brown hair was done in braids.

One of her hands was hanging loosely by her side, but the other was hidden behind her back.

She had incredible, large, long-lashed brown eyes, and she looked at me calmly.

A shiver ran down my spine at that gaze.

I raised my eyebrows. 'Oh yeah? Why's that?'

Her beautiful eyes dropped to the corpse. 'Because it's not meant to be like that,' she told me, her indifferent tone perfectly matching the dreary scene.

'Who is this? Why is he still here?' I asked, fighting to keep his voice soothing.

The girl didn't respond, but she resumed staring at me with low curiosity.

'Why are you speaking?' she asked. 'I've never seen you around here before.'

''Let's say I'm new round here.'

'That's not possible. I've been here a lot of times. You can't just come along. It doesn't happen.'

'Yeah? I get that all the time, kid.'

She seemed unfazed.

'Did you see him die?' I asked, nodding at the body.

'I'm not convinced he _is _dead all the time... watch.'

She meowed like a cat, and I stared in shock as the dead man twitched in his own blood.

'But he is, never mind. He never moves other than that,' the girl said, and turned away, starting to walk down the road.

'Wait!'

She looked back.

'I didn't catch your name,' I said.

'You should already know... it's Madotsuki.'

'What is that, Japanese? I used to have a Japanese friend. Her name was Toshiko.'

'Yes, it's Japanese.'

'You don't look it.'

'Of course not. Do you have a name?'

'Yeah,' I said, walking up beside her. 'Captain Jack Harkness. Now could you tell me where the hell I am?'

'Interesting. You're named differently. Do you die like the others?'

'What did you just say to me?'

She tilted her head to one side, still staring at him, and then she whipped the hidden hand up.

She was holding a wickedly sharp knife.

I froze.

'Why don't you put that down now.'

'I'm curious.'

With no further warning, she stabbed the knife into my heart.

Rendered speechless by the metallic pooling in my throat and mouth, I couldn't do anything but stare at her in horror as I heavily dropped to my knees, then fell forward.

I struggled to look at Madotsuki and caught one glance of her wide, emotionless eyes before everything went black.

Minutes of burning pain later, I opened my eyes and jumped to my feet, the stab wound completing the healing process as I did so.

'Right, now that made me_'

I blinked in surprise, breaking off mid-sentence.

I was not when I had been.

I looked around, spun in a dizzy circle. All around me was black and white.

The ground was white. I crouched down and rubbed some of the ground between my fingers_ it was sand.

I was standing in a huge, blinding white desert.

There were some black structures about fifty metres away, so I started walking, pulling out my gun as I did so.

There was a road running through the first tunnel I met, so I slipped inside, weapon held high, feeling like I was in one of those dumb cop movies where the cop goes into the dark room alone.

Another girl stood with her back to me.

'Hey.'

She turned around slowly, and I frowned in confusion.

This girl was wearing what looked like a school uniform_ a white buttoned and collared shirt, a dark skirt, knee-high white socks. Her hair was in high pigtails.

Her face was wrought in an expression of despair.

Though this bothered me, I figured it was more of a priority to find Madotsuki than to cheer this girl up.

'Have you seen a girl with brown hair? About so high, wearing pink and purple, probably with a knife?'

The girl stared at me in her vague horror.

'Hello?'

Nothing but that unnerving gaze.

'Can you hear me?'

She turned away.

I left the tunnel.

I stood in the brilliant white and yelled at the sky, 'Where the hell am I?' Not that I thought that would help.

A balloon with feet floated past.

I watched it go in disbelief, then stalked off towards the next tunnel, determined to find Madotsuki.

There was something about this place that gave me a creeping sense of dread, even though nothing was really happening at all.

There was a creature patrolling in front of the next tunnel. It had one of the most out of proportion heads I'd ever seen.

'Hey,' I shouted at it.

It stared at me.

I stared at it.

It stared at me.

Sick of this, I held up my gun.

'You tell me where I am right now, okay? I don't care if you feel like pretending you can't talk because you probably can!'

I'd be coming closer this whole time, and the thing started backing away, staring at me emotionlessly.

'Tell me!' I shouted.

It backed away a little more.

I fired.

A spurt of blood burst from its chest, and a faint, muted scream rang in my ears before the thing faded away.

I stared in shock. Why had I done that? What was happening to me?

Trying to stop my hands from shaking as I jammed the gun away back in my belt, I ventured into the darkness of the tunnel.

Seeing nothing but black, I sighed, looking around.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I whirled around.

In front of me was yet another chick, except she looked different.

She had long, free black hair, and was smiling almost smugly at me. She wore an outfit similar to the depressed girl's, except her white shirt wasn't a button-up, and her skirt was shorter, less modest.

Yeah, she was hot.

'Alright, three questions, gorgeous_ Can you talk, where am I, and do you know where I can find a girl with brown braids and a pink shirt?'

Tossing her hair, she replied, 'Of course I can talk, handsome. We all can_ we just prefer not to.

'You're in my area of the White Desert, which is where me and my sister live. My brother used to live here too, but he left. My sister's little and has pigtails. She doesn't like to leave her tunnel.

'As for Madotsuki, I've got no idea where she is right now. She'll be around.'

She had a striking, confident, womanly voice, and didn't flinch at all when our eyes met.

'What's your name?' she asked.

'Captain Jack Harkness and it's nice to meet you. You?'

She smiled. 'I'm Monoe. My sister's Monoko.'

We shook hands.

'There are others living in the White Desert,' Monoe said, drifting away. I walked with her.

'Like who?'

She paused, and looked at me.

'You killed him, didn't you?'

'That thing outside...'

'Yes, him.'

'Yeah, I did.'

She grabbed my collar with both hands and pulled me down to kiss me.

Slightly surprised, since I'd assumed she was upset, I kissed her back then pulled away and raised my eyebrows at her.

She shrugged. 'I had to thank you somehow.'

'Most people don't say thanks with their tongues. Well, I guess they do but_'

She started combing her hair through with her fingers.

'Who was that out there, then?' I asked.

'Just this guy.'

'So, I shoot just some guy and just some guy dies in one of the more unnerving ways I've seen, and you thank me by kissing me. That's a bit weird.'

'He follows me around,' Monoe said, still not looking at me. 'When I go outside. He never leaves me alone. Most of the time he's got me too terrified to leave here. When I am outside he never talks, he just stares. He's the worst. I know he can talk, my brother told me before he left.

When I'm in here, he just stands outside and waits for me to come out again. So I lock the tunnel off and don't let anyone in.'

'And I just killed him?' I asked.

She sighed. 'Well, yes, but he'll be back. But I always let anyone who kills him in. It's usually Madotsuki, but she frightens me, so I just smile at her to show my gratitude and run off.'

'Wait... he comes back to life?'

Monoe shrugged. 'Why shouldn't he? When you go out I bet he'll be back.'

'And what happens when Madotsuki finds you again?'

'Sometimes she kills me. It's fine.'

I grabbed Monoe by the shoulders and spun her to face me.

'How can you come back to life after she's killed you, Monoe?'

Monoe frowned at me curiously.

'Don't you understand anything about this place, Captain?'

'As a matter of fact, no! I don't know where I am, or who any of you people are, or what planet I'm on, or why you all seem to know everything, or_'

She pressed a finger to my lips. 'Okay, okay.'

'So for the last and final time. Where. Am. I.'

'You're in Madotsuki's head.'

There was a silence.

'What.'

'Don't you understand? This place_ every world_ it's not real, Jack. This is Madotsuki's dream world.'


	2. Instability

'Well, I'll have to say the Rift has really outdone itself.'

Monoe shot me a quizzical look, but I shook my head.

'So how did you get here?' I asked, looking at her carefully. She seemed real enough.

She didn't reply, just took my hand and started leading me back to the exit.

'You should go back to your own area,' she said. 'It was nice meeting you.'

I looked at her.

'You too,' I replied.

'And thank you,' she called after me as I stepped out of the darkness.

Slightly too late, I realized something that was probably important.

'Monoe! Monoe, let me back in! How do I get out of here?'

No reply.

I groaned and leaned against the tunnel wall. Now what the hell was I going to do?

Irritated, I shoved myself off the wall and kept walking.

I decided to go visit Monoko again. Maybe if I could coax her into talking to me she'd tell me how to leave.

I walked into the dimly lit tunnel.

'Monoko,' I called softly.

She turned, obviously not smiling.

I approached her and knelt down on one knee in front of her so we were about the same height.

'Hey. I'm Jack.'

She looked at me nervously.

'It's okay, Monoko, I won't hurt you.'

Her eyes met mine.

'I talked to your older sister. Monoe.'

She whispered something in Japanese.

I frowned. I wasn't very good at my Japanese, but I was pretty sure she'd asked me if I'd helped Monoe.

'Yeah, I helped her, if you mean getting rid of that guy who was stalking her.'

Monoko nodded and put her hand out tentatively, touching my vortex manipulator.

I looked up at her and smiled.

'That's it. I'm not dangerous.'

I gently took her hand away and flipped the leather away from the manipulator, and pressed a button that usually would have done something if I'd been in Torchwood, but as it was it just flashed purple.

Monoko smiled.

'Do you want to press one?' I held out my wrist to her.

She took a while choosing one, but ended up pressing one that flashed red.

Immediately, Monoko reared back, with a horrible, primal-sounding scream.

'Monoko!' I roared, jumping to my feet.

As I watched in horror, she threw out her arms, and the bones snapped_ with sickening cracks_ and grew out of them. Flesh and skin formed on the bones, until they became fully-fledged arms sticking out of the originals.

Meanwhile, something white was bulging from her head, until it was recognisable as another arm, protruding straight from her skull.

'Oh, god,' I growled, stepping back.

There was a huge, gaping hole in Monoko's stomach, with dried, blackened blood all around it.

Her face was horribly disfigured, with the right side of skin torn away, revealing her bones and the whole of her eyeball. Blood and fluids were running from both her right eye and her mouth.

She took a step towards me.

Instinctively, since I was oddly certain this wasn't the same Monoko, I pulled my gun on her.

'That won't work!'

I glanced around and saw Madotsuki standing in the tunnel entrance.

'Here, catch!' she called, and threw her knife to me gracefully.

I caught it automatically.

'Stab her! Stab her like I stabbed you!' Madotsuki shouted.

'No!' I shouted back. 'I won't kill a little girl!'

'She's not what she was! Just stab her!'

'NO!'

Madotsuki took a running leap at me and knocked me to the ground just as one of Monoko's hands had been about to touch me, then jumped to her feet and stabbed the knife she'd seized from my hand into Monoko with efficient skill.

The thudding drumbeat that had been pounding in my ears was abruptly cut off as Monoko screamed, and vanished.

Panting, I looked up at Madotsuki, who turned to me, the indifference back.

'You mustn't let the wrong ones touch you,' she told me coldly, and started to walk away.

'I-I need your help getting out of here.'

She paused.

'Try pinching yourself,' she suggested.

'What?'

'I can tell you're not really part of my dream, Jack. I've never seen you before. You're real, aren't you?'

I nodded.

'Where did you come from?' she said, as we walked into the white.

'Cardiff.'

'You don't sound Welsh.'

'And you don't sound Japanese.'

She was silent for a while as we walked towards a black and white... thing... with a grinning face.

'I'm going back through there. You can try pinching yourself if you like,' she said, indicating the thing's mouth.

'Through there?'

'Yes, mouths are prominent as passageways.'

I gripped some skin between my fingers with as much force as I could manage.

'Ouch.'

Madotsuki looked at me curiously. 'That's strange_ it didn't work.'

'It makes sense,' I said reflexively. 'I don't think I'm dreaming being here_ I actually am here, in your dreams.'

She nodded.

'Well, are you coming with me? I could show you around.'

I hadn't heard this tone of voice before. Admittedly the only actual tone I'd ever heard in her voice was urgency when Monoko was approaching, but still, I was slightly flattered to hear the shyness.

'Well, I should probably know my way around your dreams if I'm gonna be in them a lot,' I said, fairly innocently.

I still saw her blush, but then she grabbed my arm and jumped into the thing's mouth, pulling me after her.

'WhoaAAAH!'

Whatever I'd expected, it hadn't been falling through slimy darkness for about two seconds before we were spat out of a purple gate onto the top of a tall structure.

'That was disgusting,' I said. 'Disgusting.'

Madotsuki laughed, flicking some saliva out of her hair. She seemed used to it.

I looked around. The block we were on was just one of the many purple and grey blocks around us.

Madotsuki led me over to a figure that was literally just a hat and a scarf.

'Don't be shy, Mafurako. This is Jack.'

Slowly, a girl's body faded into place. She smiled timidly at me.

'Take us down,' Madotsuki said, reaching for Mafurako's hand.

Mafurako took it and mine too, and then we were standing on the ground, the pillars stretching above us.

'Where did she go?' I asked, looking around.

Madotsuki shrugged. 'She's somewhere. She doesn't like to hang around.'

She pulled on my hand. 'Now come on! I want to introduce you to the others.'

She pulled me over to a door and we stepped through.

I blinked in surprise. The block room had a black floor and as far as I'd seen no ceiling or sky, but this place held a collection of doors, each in a dusty spotlight. There were thirteen doors, each with a different design.

'Which one?' she asked excitedly, jumping up and down. I was surprised by the sudden change in her, and smiled.

'Pick a door.'

I looked around. There was a door with flashing colours, one with large eyes on it, a red one, a green one...

'Why don't you take me through your favourite one?' I suggested.

'Okay,' Madotsuki said, bounding over to the one with the flashing lights.

'You might want to shield your eyes,' she said with a grin, and pulled me through.

I stared in amazement at this place. Like the others, this world had a black floor, ground, whatever, but all around us were bright, beautiful fluorescent creatures, flashing as they moved.

The low level of panic I'd been feeling from being in all these weird places eased a bit.

'Wow,' I whispered.

Madotsuki smiled.

I ran my hand down a colourful wall, and then turned to her. 'This is amazing,' I said sincerely.

'This is Neon world,' she said enthusiastically, then looked a little embarrassed. 'I named all the worlds,' she added.

I nodded. 'It's a perfect name,' I agreed, as a shocking pink worm with a glowing turquoise outline danced past.

We walked through Neon world for a while, admiring the creatures, tiles and walls, and then Madotsuki took me back to the door room.

'What do you call this place?' I asked her.

'The Nexus.'

'Of course... The place that links them all together.'

Madotsuki nodded.

'Do you want to meet Poniko?' she said.

'Sure, why not.'

We went through a door that led to a world with snow blanketing the ground.

There were some pine trees around us.

Madotsuki stated walking towards a group of igloos.

I expected her to go into one of them, but instead she turned north and started walking again.

Shrugging, I followed her.

'I'm guessing this is the snow world?' I said.

She nodded. 'That was obvious.'

She entered an isolated igloo.

I ducked down after her and looked at the pink pool in the ground.

'Come on then,' she said, taking my hand.

We jumped, and the pool immediately sucked us down.

Pastel colours flashed and blipped around us, and I had the strange sensation of being underwater while being able to breathe.

'We're not even wet,' I observed, as we appeared in a soft, pink world.

'Of course not,' Madotsuki replied, smiling at me as if it was obvious.

I decided to ignore that.

'Lead the way, boss,' I said, and Madotsuki turned and started walking towards a tethered balloon.

'A balloon?' I asked dubiously, but she just told me to be quiet and popped the balloon with a fingernail.

There was a splash, and I blinked.

We were now standing in the middle of the pink lake all around the land areas.

As we started to wade through the pale pink water, I noticed that again, we weren't getting wet.

Well, it was a dream. And although this was the weirdest dream I'd ever experienced, it was still a dream, where weird, unexplainable things happened.

'There,' Madotsuki said, pointing to a green balloon.

We waded towards it and she popped it, and we were deposited back on land.

There were a few trees around here too, and a particular bunch with a black door in the middle.

'Through there, I'm guessing?' I said, nodding at it.

Madotsuki nodded. For the first time, I realized she didn't look very well.

'Are you okay?' I asked her.

She nodded again. 'I'm fine. I... I don't really like seeing Poniko.'

'Why not?'

'Ah... she doesn't like me very much.'

I was about to ask sarcastically whether this was because Madotsuki had stabbed her once or twice, but I stopped myself when I saw how distressed she looked.

Madotsuki straightened up and said, 'Come on then,' and walked through the door.

I followed, and found myself in a perfectly normal room. It had pink floorboards, a green rug, a bed, a window, a wardrobe, even a bookshelf.

It was the most ordinary place I'd seen so far in Madotsuki's dreams, but still, I felt uneasy.

A blonde girl was standing in the middle of the room. She was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt, a brown skirt, and red shoes. Her long hair was in a high ponytail.

Madotsuki was staring at her with an expression I didn't recognise.

'Jack, this is Poniko,' she said, and looked away.

'Where did he come from?' Poniko said. She wasn't looking at us, but she was obviously speaking to Madotsuki.

Madotsuki ignored her.

I approached Poniko. 'I'm Jack Harkness,' I said.

She turned to me.

'How did you get here, Jack Harkness?'

I stared at her. 'Uh... I don't really know that myself.'

'But you don't belong here, do you?'

'No. No, I don't. I'm trying to get back to where I came from.'

'You might find that difficult.'

I was about to respond when I realized for our whole conversation, Madotsuki had been talking.

When I looked at her, she was staring at me with pleading eyes.

'What's wrong?' I said.

'She never talks,' she answered shakily. 'I don't know why you're talking to her.'

'But she was. She was talking to me.'

'...What?'

'Madotsuki_'

'No! What was she saying to you?' she shouted at me.

Shocked by her sudden anger, I got defensive.

'It wasn't anything important. She knew I didn't belong here, and she told me it might be difficult to get back.'

'She never talks to me!'

'I do, you just can't hear me,' I heard Poniko murmur.

'She only does anything when I turn the lights off,' Madotsuki told me.

'Bad things happen when she turns the lights off,' Poniko said from my other side.

'It's not like anything happens to her,' Madotsuki said spitefully, glaring at Poniko.

'Madotsuki's so ignorant,' Poniko said sadly, and closed her eyes.

'Do you want to see what happens, Jack?' asked Madotsuki, reaching for the light switch.

Poniko's eyes flew open. 'No! Don't turn the light off!' she screamed, so loudly my eyes rang.

There was a blinding flash, and I was thrown backwards. I slammed into the wall and gasped in pain as I hit the ground.

I looked up, bright dots dancing before my eyes.

The room was dark, and the furniture had all changed colour.

Madotsuki was standing before a patch of rippling darkness, inky swirls stretching in every direction.

I could hear screaming. Lots of screaming.

The darkness had black slits, and with horror I realized that thing was what was screaming.

At Madotsuki.

She didn't seem scared. She raised a hand and reached to touch the thing.

I tried to yell at her not to, tried to move and stop her, but I was paralysed, locked in place.

Madotsuki disappeared, and the thing, too.

Then I passed out.


End file.
